Michael Liam Farnan (January 29, 1941 – June 24, 2024) was an Irish-born Canadian politician. He was an

Ontario New Democratic Party The Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP; , NPD) is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is Ontario’s provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. The ...

member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

from 1987 to 1995, and served as a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

in the government of

Bob Rae Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...

Background

Farnan was educated at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

, the National University of Ireland; the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

; and

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, Canada. He had a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Education, and a bachelor's degree of arts. He worked as a primary and secondary school teacher in London, Montreal,

Cambridge, Ontario Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand River (Ontario), Grand and Speed River, Speed rivers, in the central part of the Ontario Peninsula. The city had a population ...

and Brampton Ontario for twenty-seven years. A devout

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

working within Ontario's

separate school In Canada, a separate school is a type of school that has constitutional status in three provinces (Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan) and statutory status in the three territories (Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut). In these Canadian ...

system, he served as provincial director of the Ontario English Catholic Teacher's Association for a time, as well as participating in a variety of community outreach projects in Cambridge. After he retired in 2002, he studied to become a real estate agent and broker of his own company Mike Farnan Realty in Cambridge. He also served as associate broker for Crown Realty Royal Le Page and for Peak Realty, both located in Cambridge. Farnan died on 24 June 2024, at the age of 83. He had

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

and died by medical assistance in dying.

Politics

Farnan ran for the federal

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

during the 1980 federal election. He came second, 3,080 votes behind Progressive Conservative Chris Speyer. He also served on the Cambridge city council for the period in the 1980s. Farnan was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1987 provincial election, defeating Liberal candidate

Claudette Millar Claudette Millar (February 3, 1935 – February 10, 2016) was a Canadian politician, most noted as the first mayor of Cambridge, Ontario. Biography Millar was born February 3, 1935, in Belleville. She grew up primarily in Kitchener after ...

in the provincial riding of

(incumbent Progressive Conservative

Bill Barlow William Walter Barlow (February 20, 1931 – July 5, 2020) was a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1981 to 1987, as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. Background Barlow w ...

finished third). The NDP were the official opposition in this period, and Farnan served as his party's critic for Correctional Services and Tourism and Recreation. The NDP won a majority government in the 1990 provincial election, and Farnan was re-elected by a landslide in Cambridge. On October 1, 1990, he was appointed the Rae government's first

Solicitor General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

and Minister of Correctional Services. As Solicitor-General, Farnan introduced employment equity provisions for Ontario's police force. He also established a "common pause day" which continued the province's previous restrictions on

Sunday shopping Sunday shopping or Sunday trading refers to the ability of retailers to operate stores on Sunday, a day that Christian tradition typically recognises as a day of rest, though the rationale for Sunday trade bans often includes secular reasoning. ...

. In the spring of 1991, he became involved in a minor controversy concerning two letters which had been sent from his staff to Justices of the Peace in Ontario, one of which requested the review of a case. This was seen by some as inappropriate interference from his office, and while Farnan did not write the letters himself, he was nonetheless dropped from cabinet on July 31, 1991. In September 1991 he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the house and he served in that role for the next two years. On June 17, 1993, Farnan was re-appointed a

Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

responsible for Education and Training. In this capacity, he served as an assistant to

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

Dave Cooke Dave Cooke (born August 1, 1952) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was an Ontario New Democratic Party, NDP member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, provincial legislature from 1977 to 1997, and was a senior cabinet minister i ...

. Farnan returned to a full cabinet position on October 21, 1994, having been appointed

Minister of Transportation A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

. In 1994, Farnan was one of twelve NDP members to vote against Bill 167, a bill extending financial benefits to same-sex partners. Premier

allowed a free vote on the bill which allowed members of his party to vote with their conscience. The NDP were defeated in the 1995 provincial election, and Farnan lost the Cambridge seat to Progressive Conservative

Gerry Martiniuk Gerald Martiniuk, (August 5, 1937 – May 2, 2017) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2011 who represented the southern Ontario riding of Cambridge ...

by about 5,500 votes. He ran a second time for the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

in the 1997 federal election, but finished third against Liberal Janko Peric.

Cabinet positions

After politics

After losing his seat in 1995, Farnan became a school teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in

Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

, Ontario. He specialized in social science courses (mainly Religion). He retired in December 1996. Farnan died on 24 June 2024, aged 83, via

assisted suicide Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...

. He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Electoral record

Provincial

Federal

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farnan, Mike 1941 births 2024 deaths 2024 suicides Deaths by euthanasia Alumni of the University of London Alumni of University College Dublin Canadian Roman Catholics McGill University alumni Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs Irish emigrants to Canada 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario